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Vol. 40 • No. 29 • Thurs., July 29, 2021 - Wed., Aug. 04, 2021 • An NCON Publication Serving The Milwaukee Area • 75¢
Milwaukee celebrates a Milestone Bucks Victory Thousands of fans lined downtown Milwaukee streets on Thursday, July 22, 2021, to catch a glimpse of their beloved Bucks in a parade to celebrate the city's first NBA championship in half a century. Six police officers on horseback clopped past cheering fans at the head of a procession that included a hook-and-ladder fire truck occasionally blaring its horn, and open-air buses and flatbed trucks carrying Bucks stars including finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jrue Holiday, as well as the trophy they captured Tuesday night with a Game 6 victory over Phoenix. "Milwaukee, we did it baby! We did it!" Antetokounmpo said to a cheering crowd in the Deer District, the area outside the Bucks' Fiserv Forum. "This is our city, this is our city, man, we did it! Unbelievable." Police estimated 100,000 people jammed the Deer District for Tuesday night's Game 6.
Photo by Pat A. Robinson
Bezelee Martin, founder of Lena's Food Store, passes at age 88 Entrepreneur Bezelee Martin, the co-founder of the former Lena’s Food Market chain in Milwaukee, died on Tuesday, July 27, 2021. Funeral arrangements are pending. Bezelee Martin was 88 years old.
with helping inspire his and business partner, interest in business. As Lena, he married her a child, he went into the in 1960. The couple lawn mowing business. raised four sons toAs the lawn mowing gether and founded business became suctheir first Lena’s Food cessful, he bought more Market in 1965 at the lawn mowers on credit corner of Fourth Street and hired his classmates and North Avenue. and friends as his emBorn on September 29, ployees. Lena’s quickly es1932 in Dumas, Arkansas, tablished a reputation he was named by an aunt By 1950, Martin had for creative marketing who found the name in the relocated to Milwaukee and advertising stratBible. Martin was mainly and become the first liegies. At one time, raised by his mother, Ruth- censed Black-owned Lena’s was the largest ie, in the prosperous all- car dealer in WisconBlack grocery store Staff Photo Black town of Boley, OK. sin. In 1957, he founded chain in the U.S. He In later years, he credited Martin Hosiery, selling received numerous trucking business. After the independent, entre- stockings to young women meeting his future wife awards during his lifetime preneurial spirit of Boley and in 1958, he founded a for his business achieve-
ments, including being named an inaugural Black Excellence Award Honoree sponsored by The Milwaukee Times in 1985 and being inducted into the Wisconsin Business Hall of Fame in 2013. The grocery store chain would grow to include six stores employing 600 people in Milwaukee by 2007 as well as Black Gem, a regional store brand of some 60 food and seasoning items carried by independent grocery stores in five states at its height during the 1980s. The last Lena’s Food Market closed in 2018.
Brewers host annual Negro Leagues tribute game
Photo by Yvonne Kemp
An NCON Communications Publication
On Saturday, July 24, 2021, the Milwaukee Brewers honored decades of baseball history at their annual Negro Leagues Tribute Game, presented by Aurora Health Care, as they played the Chicago White Sox. To celebrate the day, Brewers Buddies welcomed the Beckum-Stapleton Little League and its director, former Negro Leagues player James Beckum, as guests for the game. Former Negro Leagues player Dennis Biddle alongside Alice's Garden Executive Director Venice Williams, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Attendees to the game also received a replica snapback Milwaukee Bears' hat. Pictured at the tribute game are (from left) James Beckum (St. Louis Stars catcher); Dennis Biddle (Chicago American Giants pitcher); Nathan "Sonny" Weston (Chicago American Giants outfielder); M.C. Johnson (Kansas City Monarchs pitcher); and Don Woods (Kansas City Monarchs outfielder). www.milwaukeetimesnews.com